Postgame Show: Don't Ruin The Thing I Love

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Postgame Show: Don't Ruin The Thing I Love

Date: April 21, 2026
Location: The Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the aftermath of WrestleMania, with the crew sharing passionate, sometimes conflicted reactions to the state of pro wrestling under new(ish) corporate ownership. The team explores fan skepticism, a genuinely shocking Brock Lesnar retirement, and what it means when beloved traditions feel threatened by business interests. The show also balances these profound moments with their signature banter, poll updates, and the quirky "Roy's Video of the Day."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Roy’s Video of the Day

[00:47 - 02:08]

• Roy introduces a bizarre viral video: A man performs a “rare butt thing” by using torque (compared to NFL quarterback Dak Prescott’s hip drills) to send a paper roll flying, stacking cups in the process.
• Dan and others struggle to describe it: The group is both fascinated and bewildered, trying to make sense of the spectacle.
  • Dan (01:11): “to have absolutely no idea what it’s about.”
  • Roy (01:32): “He’s put a toilet or not a toilet paper roll, but I guess a receipt roll… and he stinks. He sticks in his head, Jesse.”
• Roy shows playful embarrassment that his segment is associated with such oddity.

2. WrestleMania Reactions: Fan Disappointment vs. Narrative Redemption

[02:09 - 10:46]

• Initial Disappointment:
  • The team is frank about being let down by Night One’s event quality. Fans and hosts share skepticism about TKO’s WWE era and the direction under new management.
    • Host 2 (03:22): “I was as down about wrestling after night one as I had ever been… I was really concerned at the direction that the thing that I love might be heading in.”
    • Roy (04:03): “Wrestling fans have grown accustomed to swallowing a lot. You just got to put on a good event. Night one was terrible.”
• Night Two’s Redemption:
  • The conversation pivots to the stellar main event on Night Two, which salvaged the entire WrestleMania experience.
    • Roy (04:03): “The main event kind of saved it… you gotta be impressed with the age that CM Punk is doing this at. 47-year-old man putting on arguably the best match of an illustrious career.”
    • The hosts agree: compelling in-ring storytelling and top-level performances can override commercial gripes—if they're delivered.
    • Host 2 (04:54): “I could handle the ads… if you’re still giving me great stories and great action. And that’s what we got on Sunday.”
  • Relief as Roman Reigns announces a return to full-time, countering fears of a “part-time champion” era.

3. Brock Lesnar’s Retirement: The Power of Surprise in Wrestling

[05:27 - 07:15]

• A Genuine Shock:
  • Brock Lesnar’s emotional, unscripted retirement is dissected as an exemplar of when wrestling is at its best—when it can still truly surprise.
    • Host 2 (05:45): “That’s when wrestling is at its absolute best, when you get surprised.”
    • The hosts walk through the small cues: Lesnar sitting in the ring, removing his gloves and boots, the “X” hand signal to Paul Heyman.
    • Roy (06:34): “The X is something that officials do when there’s a real life situation, like a real life injury. Referees signal X… not scripted.”
    • Praise for Lesnar as a once-in-a-generation spectacle, and acknowledgment of the man’s rarely seen genuine emotion.

4. Skepticism of Corporate Ownership & Fan Agency

[07:34 - 10:46]

• Real-Time Fan Revolt:
  • Discussion of the Pat McAfee/Jelly Roll storyline at Mania and its overtly corporate, unpopular booking. Hosts highlight obvious “fan-pacification” moves: squashing McAfee before a match, orchestrating his return to little fan interest.
    • Host 2 (09:35): “Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll cannot be the crux of the main event at WrestleMania.”
    • Roy (09:59): “This is the first time that that crowd totally rejected him [McAfee]… Fans rejected the whole thing. And this is why wrestling fans complain, because they actually do have a voice.”
• The Fragility of Fandom:
  • Despite Sunday’s triumph, the group admits their continued wariness.
    • Host 2 (10:46): “WrestleMania, one night was bad. One night was really good. I’m still skeptical moving forward. Please don’t ruin the thing that I love.”

5. Humorous Domestic Fallout & Show Banter

[10:59 - 12:50]

• Harmless ribbing about obsessive wrestling fandom and its impact on marriages.
  • Host 1 (10:59): “I think your wife right now would say the same thing about you and wrestling and her marriage… the thing that she used to love has been ruined by old tablet breath hiding under the covers…”
• Light jabs and behind-the-scenes ribbing about show staff.

6. Poll Updates

[11:50 - 12:50]

• A quickfire, tongue-in-cheek rundown of current audience polls about everything from “eating pucks” (81.8% say yes) to “Is Back to the Future a sci-fi movie?” (80.7% say yes), and miscellaneous trivialities.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:22] Host 2:
  “I was as down about wrestling after night one as I had ever been. Not just because it wasn’t a real good show, but I was very concerned… where they’re going to take the thing that I love.”
• [04:03] Roy:
  “Wrestling fans have grown accustomed to swallowing a lot. You just got to put on a good event. Night one was terrible.”
• [04:54] Host 2:
  “I could handle the ads, I could handle all of that, you know, sell your soul type stuff. If you’re still giving me great stories and great action.”
• [05:45] Host 2:
  “That’s when wrestling is at its absolute best, when you get surprised.”
• [06:34] Roy:
  “The X is something that officials do. When there’s a real life situation, like a real life injury, referees signal X… that means not scripted.”
• [09:59] Roy:
  “Fans rejected the whole thing. And this is why wrestling fans complain, because they actually do have a voice. They do bring about change. And I think night two was a testament to that.”
• [10:46] Host 2:
  “Please don’t ruin the thing that I love.”

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Episode Highlights by Timestamp

• [00:47] – Roy’s Video of the Day: high-torque cup-stacking viral oddity
• [02:09] – WrestleMania: disappointment with Night One and broader fan concern
• [04:03] – Night Two redemption; CM Punk’s age-defying performance
• [05:27] – Brock Lesnar’s emotional, surprising real retirement
• [07:34] – Corporate skepticism, fan pushback on Pat McAfee/Jelly Roll
• [10:46] – Hopes, fears, and “don’t ruin the thing I love” refrain
• [11:50] – Poll results and rapid-fire show banter

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Tone & Language

The hosts maintain an irreverent, hyper-enthusiastic, sometimes exasperated but always authentic tone. There’s both earnest wrestling fandom and a willingness to poke fun at themselves, their relationships, and the ridiculous occasions of pop culture.

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Summary

For listeners (or non-listeners), this episode offers a rich blend of authentic wrestling fan emotion, corporate skepticism, and classic Le Batard Show humor. The “Don’t Ruin The Thing I Love” theme resonates: whether it’s wrestling, old marriages, or sports in general, the show illustrates what’s at stake when cherished traditions feel endangered by the business of entertainment. The episode is punctuated with viral video antics, behind-the-scenes ribbing, and a commitment to keeping the conversation fresh, frank, and funny.

Transcript

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[Host 1]

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[Roy]

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[Host 1]

Juju's on his way down here to be a part of what it is that we're doing for the draft and tomorrow's show as well. We're going to update the poll in a second, the polls. But before we do that, Roy, what is your video of the day? What do we have as we this segment is soaring all over the Internet. Everybody loves it. What's today's video?

[Roy]

Well, Dan, this is a fantastic video

[Dan]

to have absolutely no idea what it's about.

[Host 1]

Okay, so you never know what Roy's video of the day is, but we will just play that video for the audience and it is somebody just sticking something.

[Dan]

Oh, this guy's very famous all the time.

[Roy]

Good choice, Roy. Yeah, this guy does a lot of things with his wiener.

[Host 1]

Well, okay, good torque on this.

[Roy]

Yeah. This one's a rare butt thing that he's doing.

[Host 1]

So he's put a toilet or not a toilet paper roll, but I guess a receipt roll, a roll of receipts, CVS receipt, the CVS receipts. And he stinks. He sticks in his head, Jesse.

[Roy]

I'm sure it does the hip twerk that Todd Haley could have used pretty good.

[Dan]

He's got it tied to a CD and then he. A CD in his ass crack.

[Roy]

Yeah, in his butt crack.

[Dan]

Clenches his butt, then has the torque of like an NFL quarterback throwing with the hip. You know how Dak does the hip thing? Rips that out and has these papers with cups stacked on top of them. And then all the cups fall perfectly in line and all sink in.

[Host 2]

You know about that clenching power.

[Roy]

Very happy that my name is associated with this.

[Host 1]

Roy's Video of the Day. Thank you, Roy, for your continued excellent work around things Here. But yes, it was the torque of Dak Prescott with his hip opening exercises before a game. And what he was doing is basically, you've got a Jenga tower of glass that basically has this receipt and paper all over the place. And the torque, the torque force is such that you would think a glass would. But because he's amazing. That is Roy's video of the day. You guys were very disappointed with the amount of selling that there was in the WrestleMania event. And I'm wondering because you guys were also, it seemed like slightly disappointed with the on canvas. On canvas product before we got to the main event or.

[Roy]

Yeah, I think the main event kind of saved it. If we can talk about it sincerely here, because I know the. The business of put that aside at the end of the day. Wrestling fans have grown accustomed to swallowing a lot. You just got to put on a good event. Night one zaz terrible.

[Host 2]

I. I was as down about wrestling after night one as I had ever been. Not just because it wasn't a real good show, but I was very concerned and there still is concern. Like that concern can't possibly be gone now after just one day. But I was really concerned at the direction that the thing that I love might be heading in now because it has different. And it's not new ownership. They've owned it for a few years now, but still it's different ownership than it's been for the rest of my life. And we know the way business is these days and you know that that's the bottom line for a lot of these corporations. And I was just really worried about where they're going to take the thing that I love.

[Roy]

Yeah, I appreciated your perspective yesterday and. Because you were worried about like, well, is this a new normal? Because if this is a new normal, I'm not sure if I like wrest wrestling as much. And Ariel Helwani with his, perhaps his sharpest criticism of TKO's WWE era, really came down on them and it was surprising. But I do think that TKO owes a big debt of gratitude to the two performers that headlined night two in terms of in ring storytelling. And you got to be impressed with the age that CM Punk is doing this at. It's a 47 year old man putting on arguably the best match of an illustrious career that spun the entire event into a win, a win with opinions, a win, certainly with some conversation around it. But the last thing people left with, which is that match was, wow, that's what wrestling's supposed to be. That's what WrestleMania is.

[Host 2]

All about I could handle the ads, I could handle all of that, you know, sell your soul type stuff. If you're still giving me great stories and great action. And that's what we got on Sunday. You know, the main event, Roman and Punk was phenomenal. And we also get the news, like you're worried if Roman was going to win the match. Whoa. We going back to the deal where it's part time champion. He's only on television once a month. That kind of sucks. He announced after the show on Sunday night he is back full time, at least through the summer this year, which is awesome.

[Roy]

For me, the most interesting thing was them pulling out a win from a narrative that surrounded the event that was not at all good. But it's the way the, the event started. They found a way to surprise people with a genuine retirement of Brock Lesnar, one of the great spectacles in that industry.

[Host 2]

That's when wrestling is at its absolute best, when you get surprised. And this was like, Dan, after Brock Lesnar lost in the opener, he's sitting in the ring, he's kind of recovering because he got beat up pretty bad. And, and no one really understands why is he just sitting there, what's going on, you know, and he on, he takes off the Velcro off his first glove, and you can hear a collective gasp from the crowd as, oh, my God, he's retiring. And he takes off the gloves. He takes off the boots and puts

[Roy]

them on the General logo and in mid ring, as you know, per tradition,

[Host 2]

the General, you know, they are sponsoring Brock Lesnar's retirement apparently. And, and he and Paul Heyman's crying. I don't know. Crocodile tears are for real. What do you think?

[Roy]

For real. In fact, there was a cool moment there where Brock Lesnar throws up the X. Yeah.

[Host 2]

You know, the X means. Dan.

[Roy]

The X is something that the officials do. When there's a real life situation, like a real life injury, referees signal X.

[Host 2]

That means not scripted.

[Roy]

Yeah. So he threw up the X to Paul Heyman. Genuine emotion came out there. And credit to them for keeping this a secret the entire time. I thought I was gonna get swerved. I was shook because there's a wrestler whose whole gimmick it is to end people's careers. And with SummerSlam being in Brock Lesnar's hometown of Minneapolis, people assumed like that was gonna be the plan. He throws up the X and you see genuine emotion from Brock Lesnar. He's not an actor like that. And he never shown this type of emotion.

[Host 2]

Oh, he's Never cared about the crowd clapping for him. Thank you. All that stuff. And he was. He was really soaking it all in as he was walking back up that ramp.

[Roy]

I'm kind of bummed that first off, Brock. There's a lot that's said about Brock and some stuff especially attached to Janel Grant that is certainly fair. But in terms of in that industry being an attraction, he is a spectacle. I mean, he's still terrifying. Dan, if the aliens come, we're sending Brock Lesnar, right?

[Host 1]

It's been that way for 20 years. He's old now. How old you were mentioning CM Punk being 47. Like, this is. This is an old person who has beat up that body. But I'm genuinely surprised by nothing more during the show today than Alex Jones looking better shirtless than Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Sure it wasn't the Netanyahu thing that was second place on today's list. Also thought those as low. I thought that you headed into WrestleMania expecting to be disappointed. So what that first night was because you don't trust this ownership. You guys don't trust this ownership.

[Roy]

Doesn't seem like Ariel Hawani does either.

[Host 1]

Storytelling. So they confirmed your bias on the first night and it took two legendary wrestlers on the second night to salvage it for you. If that hadn't been what it was, if the last match hadn't been what it was, the buzzer beater that it was, do you end up leaving that evening even more disappointed than you thought you were going to be because of how shitty night one was?

[Host 2]

Well, overall, all of Sunday night was actually really good. It wasn't just like, man, they better at least give me something in the main event. Sunday was really good. And the main event was the cherry on top of like a really massive cherry.

[Roy]

It was booked like a concession that they had heard the feedback almost.

[Host 2]

Yes, Sunday. Sunday felt different from Saturday. And granted, the thing that wrestling fans are upset about going into the weekend was the Pat McAfee story that is super controversial. And that unfortunately. And with a little bit of jelly crammed in.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Roy]

Because it was. Seemed like an Ari call. And the way that it was booked was basically like open disdain for the entire storyline, the. The wrestlers attached to it. It wasn't a. It wasn't a work that they. They were pretty honest that this match in particular, with 20 years of history, did not need Pat McAfee's involvement. Wrestling fans kind of really rebelled against it.

[Host 2]

Pat McAfee and Jelly roll cannot be the crux of the main event at WrestleMania.

[Roy]

So Dan, they, they. They basically have Jelly Roll and Pat do their thing before the bell rings. They squash Pat McAfee so that he's not there for the entirety of the match. And you know he's going to come back.

[Host 2]

Oh, yeah. Anytime he takes him out on a stretcher at the beginning of a match,

[Roy]

you know they're coming back, he comes back. And the guy that he's aligned with, Randy Horton, just like RKO's, out of that storyline, he was effectively written off.

[Host 2]

Now he claims he's done with wrestling.

[Roy]

He's claimed that a half a dozen times. So we'll see if he. I mean, he was in the SummerSlam.

[Host 2]

You don't lie in wrestling.

[Roy]

And he. And he's still, like, wearing a neck brace, selling it, so we'll see. But the response to him, and he got, like, true heat. He got, like, nuclear heat. Wrestling fans, Pat McAfee was so accepted by wrestling fans because he himself was one. This is the first time that that crowd totally rejected him. And it wasn't like, all right, this is the worst town. It wasn't Miz Heat. Right. It wasn't like, you know, I'm gonna do my job and make you boo me. Fans rejected that whole thing. It was booked like that. And this is why wrestling fans complain, because they actually do have a voice. They do bring about change. And I think night two was a testament to that.

[Host 2]

Yeah, so I was. I was super pleased with the way night two went. And you know what? I was really pleased with last night. But overall, you know, yeah, WrestleMania, one night was bad. One night was really good. I'm still skeptical moving forward. Please don't ruin the thing that I love.

[Host 1]

I think your wife right now would say the same thing about you and wrestling and her marriage. I think in general, the thing that she used to love has been ruined by old tablet breath hiding under the covers watching his sixth straight day of wrestling. We learned today that was another. That was bronze medalist of surprising things to learn today that Tamara has reached her breaking point just entirely on her marriage and its wrestling.

[Roy]

And she did great with the bright

[Host 1]

lights as she's disgusted by her husband in a way we need around here.

[Roy]

Yeah, that's a shame that she did great with the bright lights because now Dan's got to go to it all the time.

[Host 1]

That's right. Especially on Tuesdays when Cody's not here because he's preparing for Thursday and we don't have Earlene's commentary to make fun of her husband. It's an important part of the show. Jeremy, can you update some polls for us today, please?

[Host 2]

Yes, I can.

[Jeremy]

Momentarily. I'm scrolling. Just one second.

[Roy]

It was your only jolly face.

[Jeremy]

I know I was.

[Roy]

The lighting on Pablo was weird, I'll give you that.

[Dan]

All right.

[Jeremy]

Was everyone eating pucks last night? 81.8% of the audience says yes.

[Roy]

Fat white face. Fat white face.

[Jeremy]

Temple. Back to the Future sci fi movie. 80.7% of the audience says yes.

[Host 2]

What?

[Jeremy]

What is louder, a cruise ship or a leaf blower? 75% of the audience says leaf blower.

[Host 2]

What? Wow.

[Roy]

Can you believe that?

[Jeremy]

QUINN Snyder is 59 years old?

[Host 1]

So shocking.

[Jeremy]

58.4% of the audience says no.

[Roy]

I haven't pulled a stat like that in quite some time. Coach in the NBA playoffs.

[Host 1]

Good stuff.

[Jeremy]

Those are your polls?

[Host 1]

I thought there was another Gwen Snyder poll. I thought we had two Quinn Snyder polls.

[Jeremy]

58% of the audience says no to that.

[Host 1]

It was your only job.